Weaving your Memories
Weaving your Stories
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GLADYS AMELIA - 80 YEARS YOUNG
It was July of 1911 and Addy and Peter thought themselves in heaven with the birth of their first little female child. (At the time she appeared quite meek and mild!) She grew up daily with charm and grace, but we question whether she knew her place. She'd a mind of her own they knew for certain when she made dolls clothes from the bedroom curtain. Her interests lay with the arts for sure. At school she appeared a bit of a bore, 'cos while all the others played races or ball Gladdy sat knitting against the wall. She learned how to be a farmer's wife, to cook for shearers and sharpen a knife, and had good practice in playing at mothers with two little sisters and two little brothers. She came to town as a working girl, with the latest clothes and the latest curl, ant that's when Jim thought he'd better go woo her before some city bloke beat him to her. Over the years (between me and you), there has seemed no limit to what she can do. Hit her with a challenge, and what do you know? She'll take up the gauntlet and give it a go. Back in the days of coupons and rations she took on the challenge of Mortlake's hair fashions, and many a local would drop in on Glad for a short back and sides or whatever the fad. She sewed for a living for quite a few years, listening to whinges from all the old dears; and now she's an old dear herself don't you know, but the one thing she still loves to do is to sew. She did her time in the butcher's shop with steak and kidney and sausage and chop, working for love and not for pay and riding her bike to work every day. At the same time as wearing all of these hats she managed to bring up a houseful of brats, two of them female and three of them male - but therein, of course, lies another tale. Suffice it to say that she stayed on her toes, feeding their faces and mending their clothes, and in all of those years she kept herself nice - we only ever heard her say "bloody" twice! Now she wears more hats than ever she did, and some of her talents could still remain hid; but there're very few things that our Glad is slow at. There's nothing that our Glad has not had a go at - Like singing and acting and painting walls, gardening and milking and cooking for balls, and making lollies and making crafts, and carpentering and blocking draughts, And laying tiles and unblocking drains and treating people with all kinds of pains. On Monday she reaches the big 8 and 0, and she takes Meals on Wheels to the old did you know? Anyhow Mum, on behalf or our Dad, And CP and KJ and Cushla the lad, And Dardie and me I'd just like to add - NOT BAD GLAD!!! (c)Beryl O'Gorman 1991 Revised by Wordweavers 2000 |